Mountains Are For Everyone

discover snow snowflakes

At NSAA, we are the trade association for ski area owners and operators. Discover Snow is our chance to interact with you, the curious snow enthusiast, the intrepid first-timer, the veteran skier. Through our efforts, we have come into contact with some amazing organizations helping to bring the joy of skiing and snowboarding to everyone. Below, you'll find our list of several organizations that work in various ways to support diversity on the slopes. You may identify with some of them or simply see better that the ski industry is a welcoming place to people of all backgrounds. This list is not exhaustive; there are countless people, organizations, and ski areas working hard to ensure everyone feels welcome on snow. Click here to learn more about NSAA's inclusion initiatives.

National Brotherhood of Skiers

The National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) is a non-profit focused on organizing and supporting African American skiers. The NBS is comprised of 55 predominantly black ski clubs across the United States. They are recognized as one of the largest organizations in the ski industry, and their biennial Summit is the largest gathering of skiers and riders in the US. Learn more about the NBS, their mission, and their inititiatives through the link.

Share Winter Foundation

Share Winter Foundation (Share Winter) is a grantmaking organization working to improve the lives, health, and fitness of youth through winter sports. Share Winter works closely with carefully selected grantees to build efficient, effective, sustainable winter sports programs and pipelines to ongoing winter sports participation. They strive to make winter sports accessible to a broader, more diverse community, and share winter with 100,000 youth by 2028. IN the 2019/20 winter season, Share Winter funded over 45,000 youth in programs across the country.

Chill Foundation

The Chill Foundation (Chill) was founded in 1995 by Jake and Donna Carpenter, founders of Burton Snowboards. Chill is a positive youth development program where boardsports become a vehicle for empowerment. Their programs consist of experiential learning activities, reflection, and discussion, paired with boardsport lessons. Chill removes all barriers to accessing boardsports by providing youth with everything they need to get after it, at absolutely no cost. Chill has served more than 25,000 youth since the program began, offering programs in 24 cities across 10 countries.

SOS Outreach

SOS Outreach (SOS) believes every child deserves the opportunity to thrive. Through outdoor experiences including skiing and snowboarding, adult mentorship, and community service, SOS empowers kids to discover their true potential. "Because it’s on the slopes or the trail that kids unearth the courage to step outside of their comfort zones, discover new strengths within themselves and develop lifelong skills." SOS has served over 70,000 youth across 15 locations in 9 states.

Youth Enrichment Services

Youth Enrichment Services (YES) provides affordable and impactful sports-based youth development and leadership programming for Boston children and teens. YES inspires youth through outdoor experiences and leadership opportunities that build confidence and prepare them to summit life’s challenges. YES serves more than 1,600 youth annually, 75% of whom come from low-to-moderate income households and 3 out of 5 are youth of color.